Disappointing News/Medical Glitch

While in Ocean Springs, MS, we found out that Jan's cancer had returned and she developed another tumor. So on April 1st we turned the boat West and headed for Clear Lake, Texas. Our dear friend, James Pierson, had joined us for the sail. It was an easy ride back and on April 7th we arrived at the Blue Dolphin Marina in Seabrook.

We will stay here for as long as it takes for Jan to receive chemo, surgery and recover; she's being treated at MD Anderson. We are determined to head east again at the first possible moment and continue our gunk holing.


The Mississippi was up 14.5' and running about 5 knots so we thought it best to travel the Algiers Locks on the return trip. Here we are locked in with two barges and a light tow with James manning the bow.

Morgan City to Ocean Springs Feb-March 2011

The city dock at Houma is a great place to spend a night. We had a cruiser stop by who lives in the area and he gave us a quick tour of the downtown and dropped us off at a very nice Italian restaurant. A couple in the restaurant overheard our cruising conversation with our waitress and they gave us a ride back to the marina.



We had a smooth ride over to the Boomtown Casino. As you can see by the picture, this is not your choice spot to tie up for the night but it's only 4 miles from the Harvey Locks. Being that close allows us to plan our time easily for the next days transit of the locks and various bridges.





Here we are with the tugs in the Harvey Locks







New Orleans from the water coming down the Mississippi River








New Orleans, the party town--we stayed here a couple of weeks and toured the town and enjoyed the Mardi Gras. Ray & Beth, our cruising buddies, arrived just in time for the big event.















Sand Island--What a beautiful anchorage overlooking the white sands beach and old Fort Massachusetts.



Ocean Springs, Mississippi

A beautiful, sunny, clear day for our short run to Ocean Springs. Here we'll dock the boat while we make a quick trip to Houston & Dallas for some medical follow up, business and to see our new granddaughter, Elora Claire, who arrived on March 6th.

It's only 1.8 miles to the grocery store and here we trek with our backpacks enjoying the quaint shops along the historic Washington Street. We found an old timey drug store and we just had to sit at the counter and have a ice cream with Ray & Beth.

Freeport to Morgan City February 2011

February 13th—Finally got a weather break so we headed out to Offatts Bayou in the Galveston area. Great place to anchor; plenty of room, walking distance to stores and you can dinghy up to a restaurant.

February 14th—Our plan was a relatively short sail to the Bolivar Peninsula but we didn’t like the anchorage so we pressed on to Taylor Outfall Bayou. It’s a beautiful area in the middle of the Big Bayou Wildlife but loaded with mosquitoes.

We circled two hours waiting for the Ellender Bridge to open.

February 15th---We had a sunny, clear day with Force 3 winds as we crossed into Louisiana. We anchored in a very serene Oxbow off the Calcasieu River. An oxbow is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off to create a lake.




February 16th---A short trip to the Bow Tie Marina for diesel & water. It’s 10.7 miles up the river in the Contraband Bayou. It’s a beautiful ride through the swampland; lots of Cypress trees and knees with moss hanging everywhere. The marina owners were wonderful and we decided to spend the night so that we could go to the L’Augerge du Lac Casino. Great food but not much luck gambling.



Calcasieu Locks

February 17th---A cool, cloudy day as we headed east 49.7 miles to the Mermentau River and stayed in an oxbox just north of the ICW.

Leland-Bowman Locks

February 18th---We spent the next night at Bayou Petite Anse which was close to our destination, Avery Island.

February 19th---Since we were not comfortable leaving our boat for the day at Bayou Petite Anse due to the lack of swing room, we headed up the Bayou to Delcambre where we fueled up at LeBlanc’s and tied up to their dock. We then had an 8 mile dinghy ride over to Avery Island where the Tabasco Factory is located. We enjoyed the day getting a tour of the factory and having very tasty Crawfish Etoffue for lunch.

February 20, 2011---Morgan City, 59 miles east, is a “must see” according to our cruising guide. It has a small quaint historic area but the huge hardware store is what got Joe interested. Unfortunately, it was Sunday so it was not open. We spent the night at the city dock.

February 21st---One normally gets disappointed when fogged in but if one gets to go to the hardware store, it’s okay. By the time we got through all the aisles, the fog had lifted and we were on our way east to Houma.

Rockport to Freeport February 9, 2011

We had a great sail from Rockport to Matagorda enjoying a sunny clear day with cool temperatures and breezy. The wind on the stern helped us make the trip in 11 hours. We saw lots of birds including 9 sets of whooping crane and my favorite, Ibis. We also saw our fare share of cattle grazing. We enjoyed the sail from Matagorda to Freeport. Extremely breezy up to Force 6 but clear sunny skies. We are docked at the city marina to wait out the cold front which arrived today. The picture shows the guillitone flood gate; it's an strange feeling to sail underneath it.

On our way

800 hours, Sunday, January 9, 2011 we cast off for our cruising adventure. Heading north towards Rockport part of the time the tide was in our favor and we exceeded 8 knots. It was a smooth ride up the ICW. We are so thankful for our enclosed cockpit as we stayed warm even though it was blowing in the mid 20's and the temperature was cold. With the oncoming cold fronts we plan to stay in Rockport for a few days.

Thanksgiving Trip

We drove to Tucson, AZ in our motor home for Thanksgiving and enjoyed visiting with relatives. We then continued the trip to San Clemente, CA and spent several days with friends and seeing the area.

Harvest Moon Regatta

Joe raced the Harvest Moon Regatta again on John Bradford's 44' C&C out of Kemah. Out of 280+- boats signed up, approximately 100 boats did not complete the race. The race started with no wind and ended with 30+ knots. The average swells were 10' which made for a wet ride. Unfortunately, 2 of the crew got sea sick early in the race, leaving Joe and his two friends, James Pierson and Danny Shaffer to complete the race. They managed to finish the 150 miles in less than 24 hours.